INC Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced that he would be suspending all his public rallies in West Bengal in view of the COVID-19 situation and advised all political leaders to think about the consequences of holding mega rallies due to the coronavirus crisis the country is facing. India is now swirling in the second deadlier wave of the pandemic, which is sweeping ruthlessly throughout all states.
There are 2,61,500 fresh coronavirus cases in the biggest-ever 2.61 lakh cases in a one-day recording of an increasing rise for the 39th day in a row. In fact, India has shown the biggest hike in SARS-CoV-2 cases. The second wave of the deadly virus has been catastrophic for India topping the Worldometer charts racing ahead of the USA.
The active cases have gone over the 18-lakh mark, comprising 12.18 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 86.62 percent, according to the health ministry.
The death count increased to 1,77,150 with a record 1,501 new fatalities according to data updated at 8 am.
It appears that the pandemic is being managed very selectively with a different set of norms and rules being implemented differently for different groups of people and this is probably why India has reached the second status of the coronavirus invasion in the world right behind the USA.
Initially, Kumbh Mela with an attendance of over 2 million devotees was endorsed with the blessings of the Uttarkhand chief minister. On the other hand, other events around the country which were less crowded were canceled. Election heavy campaigning was not stopped with the Central Government involved in very intense campaigning with large seas of crowds attending their rallies.
Then PM Modi on Saturday urged devotees attending the Kumbh Mela to only have symbolic participation when it was discovered that over 2000 devotees tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
At the same time, he is still continuing with his heavily crowded election campaigning where lakhs in close clusters without masks are attending.
Over the last few months, there have been intense flocks of human masses attending religious ceremonies, weddings, festivals, political gatherings, and elections campaigning.
Paradoxically, in some states governments imposed a night curfew makes it seem as if coronavirus sleeps in the day and gets up at night. So by this logic, millions of humans could swarm in crowds in the day but needed night curfews implemented.
The Prime Minister’s comment seemingly praising the crowds at his rallies in Bengal amid the pandemic’s surge raised criticism.
The Opposition has been questioning the Prime Ministers’ continued massive campaigning in the midst of a terrible surge of COVID where India battles a deadly second wave of infections.
The death rates are so high that it is beyond the authorities to handle the immense rush of bodies to crematoriums, people cremating their loved ones are being made to wait for hours for the cremations.
There is a lack of hospital beds, dead bodies all over, shortage of remdesivir the antiviral drug to treat COVID-19, and state governments complain of lack of oxygen for patients, and vaccines have run out in some places. Ambulances flooding busy streets are caught in massive traffic jams.
In lieu of all this, people are saying, “India is going to touch 3 lakh cases for the fourth consecutive day as the Prime Minister rallies for additional facilities.” Does the question arise as to whether the Prime Minister will take responsibility and also suspend his election campaigns?
Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “In view of the Covid situation, I am suspending all my public rallies in West Bengal.
I would advise all political leaders to think deeply about the consequences of holding large public rallies under the current circumstances.
कोविड संकट को देखते हुए, मैंने पश्चिम बंगाल की अपनी सभी रैलियाँ रद्द करने का निर्णय लिया है।
राजनैतिक दलों को सोचना चाहिए कि ऐसे समय में इन रैलियों से जनता व देश को कितना ख़तरा है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 18, 2021